RESEARCH ON THE ISOLATION AND IDENTIFICATION OF SOME BACTERIA FROM FOOD PRODUCTS OF ANIMAL ORIGIN

Diseases due to the consumption of food of animal origin have an important role in the field of public health, since the food constitutes an essential way of contaminating humans with bacterial germs. In addi-tion to possible contamination from an animal source, food is also subject to accidental contamination throughout processing until consumption. During five years, a total of 199 samples of poultry, pork, sheep meat, and dairy products were collected from bu-tcheries, supermarkets, and grocery stores in Harghi-ta County. Standard methods SR EN ISO 6579/2003 AC/2006, SR EN ISO 10272/2006, and EN/ISO 11290-1:2017 were used for serotyping the bacterial strains. The Vitek2 Compact system was used for the identification of the isolated strains, using specific cards for both Gram-positive and Gram-negative bac-teria. The results showed the bacterial strains differed by year and type of product. Poultry and pig meat and meat products had the highest frequency of Salmonella spp. contamination, while milk samples and dairy products were predominantly contaminated with Escherichia coli. Salmonella enterica subsp. enterica serovar Coeln was identified for the first time in Ro -mania.